Collaborative deer management - ecology data, 2006-2009
This dataset consists of a survey of the vegetational impacts of deer in 20 forests as part of the NERC Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) programme. It is widely accepted, at least in principle, that most kinds of natural resources are best handled collaboratively. Collaborative management avoids conflict and enhances the efficiency with which the resource is managed. However, simply knowing that collaboration is a good idea does not guarantee that collaboration can be achieved. In this project, the researchers have addressed issues of conflict and collaboration in ecological resource management using the example of wild deer in Britain. Deer are an excellent example since they highlight problems around ownership and because they offer both societal benefits and drawbacks. Wild deer are not owned, though the land they occupy is. As deer move around, they usually cross ownership boundaries and thus provoke potential conflicts between neighbouring owners who have differing management goals. Deer themselves are valued and a key component of the natural environment, but their feeding commonly limits or prevents woodland regeneration and can thus be harmful to ecological quality. Deer provide jobs but they also provoke traffic accidents. This study used a variety of methods from across the natural and social sciences, including choice experiments, semi-structured interviews with individuals and focus groups. It also incorporated the use of participatory GIS to map deer distributions and habitat preferences in conjunction with stakeholders. The study confirmed conventional wisdom about the importance of collaboration. However, it also showed that there were many barriers to achieving effective collaboration in practice, such as contrasting objectives, complex governance arrangements, power imbalances and personal relationships. Mechanisms for enhancing collaboration, such as incentives and incorporating deer within broader landscape management objectives, were examined. Though these proposals were worked out for the case of deer, they are likely to be applicable much more widely and should be considered in other cases of disputed or rapidly changing ecological resource management. This dataset consists of a survey of the vegetational impacts of deer in 20 forests. The interview and focus group transcripts, and the choice experiment datasets from this study are available at the UK Data Archive under study number 6545 (see online resources). Further documentation for this study may be found through the RELU Knowledge Portal and the project's ESRC funding award web page (see online resources).
dataset
https://beta.ukdataservice.ac.uk/datacatalogue/studies/study?id=6545
name: UK Data Service catalogue record
function: information
http://relu.data-archive.ac.uk/explore-data/search-browse/Project/?ID=RES-227-25-0014
name: RELU Knowledge Portal page
function: information
name: Contact the EIDC for access to this data
function: download
1297098008280
CEH:EIDC:
eng
biota
economy
environment
Land Use
publication
2008-06-01
creation
2006-01-01
Rural Economy and Land Use Programme
Collaborative Deer Management
Balquhidder
Cairngorm (mountains)
Poole basin
Conflict
Cooperation
Deer (farmed)
Environmental conservation
Environmental management
Geographic information systems
Land management
Participation
Resources management
Rural areas
Rural development
Rural economics
Rural environment
Rural planning
Social conflict
Stakeholders
2006-2009
-6.58
4.09
55.94
49.05
publication
2008-09-18
notPlanned
Research funded by Economic and Social Research Council, Natural Environment Research Council and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. Award Number: RES-224-26-0041 The vegetational impact data consists of measurements of ecological indicators including physical damage, diversity and density, further details of which can be found in the documentation the data files. Detailed information on the sampling methods used are currently not available.
publication
2010-12-08
Microsoft Excel
Macaulay Institute
principalInvestigator
University of York
pointOfContact
Macaulay Institute
owner
University of York
owner
Forest Research
robin.gill@forestry.gsi.gov.uk
owner
Forest Research
norman.dandy@forestry.gsi.gov.uk
owner
NERC Environmental Information Data Centre
publisher
Environmental Information Data Centre
Lancaster Environment Centre, Library Avenue, Bailrigg
Lancaster
LA1 4AP
UK
pointOfContact
2021-06-25T18:42:55